The Martyr Missionary of Erromanga; or The Life of John Williams, who was Murdered and Eaten by the Savages in one of the South Sea Islands; From the London Edition, Rewritten and Abridged for the American Sunday School Union, and Revised by the Committee of Publication. Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, 1844. [14066]
Black leather spine with marbled boards, very scuffed and worn, 6 x 4 inches, still tight. Lacks one front and both back free end papers (blanks). Engraved portrait of Williams aboard ship; an additional engraving of the monument to Williams at Avarua. 270 pp., counted and complete. Text is foxed, smudged, with some pencil marks. Fair. Hardcover.
An abridgement of Ebenezer Prout's biography of Williams.
John Williams (1796-1839), b. Totteham, near London; d. Erromango, New Hebrides. A mechanic by trade, after conversion he was ordained as a missionary with the London Missionary Society to the South Pacific. A tireless worker, he constructed his own ship to use in his missionary activities. His policy of evangelizing and befriending the head chiefs of the islands earned him the respect of the islanders themselves.
"In 1839 Williams was attacked and murdered on a beach at Eromanga, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), while fleeing from distrustful Islanders. Portrayed as a martyr, he became a legend and an inspiration for Islander missionaries and the LMS 'at home and abroad.' Seven of the society's ships subsequently bore his name." - John Garrett, Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson.
